After much negotiation a sort of reconcilia tion was patched up in 1170, which on the whole was to the advantage of Becicet, who, being now restored to his see with all its former privileges, forthwith prepared to return. Af ter a triumphant entry into Canterbury the young Prince Henry, crowned &ring the life time of his father, transmitted him an order to restore the suspepde4 and execitnniunicated prelates, whkh termed bo do, fof the teas& that the Pope alone could grant the request, though the fatter had authorized him to inflict the censure on them. The prelates immediately appealed to Henry in Normandy, who in a state of extreme exasperation exclaimed, ((What an unhappy prince am I, who have not about me one man of spirit enough to rid me of a single insolent prelate, the perpetual trouble of my life!" These rash and too significant words induced four of the attendant barons, Reginald Fitz-Urse, William de Tracy, Hugh de Mor ville and Richard Breto, to resolve to wipe out the King's reproach. Having laid their plans, they forthwith proceeded to Canterbury, and having formally required the archbishop to re store the suspended prelates, they returned in the evening of the same day (29 Dec. 1170), and, placing soldiers in the courtyard, rushed with their swords drawn into the cathedral, where the archbishop was at vespers, and, ad vancing toward him, threatened him with death if he still disobeyed the orders of Henry. Becket, without the least token of fear, replied that he was ready to die for the rights of the Church; and magnanimously added, ((I charge you in the name of the Almighty not to hurt any other person here, for none of them have been concerned in the late transactions.>) The
confederates then strove to drag him out of the church, but not being able to do so on account of his resolute deportment, they killed him on the spot with repeated wounds, all which he endured without a groan.
The perpetrators of the deed repented and made pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Henry II did penance at the saint's tomb.
Thus perished Thomas 1 Becket in his 52d year, a martyr to the cause which he espoused, and a man of unquestionable vigor of intellect. He was canonized two years after his death, and miracles abounded at his tomb. In the reign of Henry III his body was taken up and placed in a magnificent shrine erected by Arch bishop Stephen Langton; and of the popularity of the pilgrimages to his tomb the 'Canterbury Tales' of Chaucer will prove an enduring testi mony. In September 1538, Henry VIII, who held the veneration with which a Becket was regarded in especial detestation, destroyed the shrine and, on what appears to be good evi dence, had the martyr's bones burned. The names of many.churches and hospitals, in order to conform to the royal commands, were changed frotn Saint Thomas the Martyr to Saint Thomas the Apostle. Consult for the sources of the life (Matenals for the History of Archbishop Becket) edited for the Rolls Series by Robert son and Sheppard (London 1875-85) • also (Lives) by A. E. Abbott (London 1898), W. H. Hutton (ib. 1&39), John Morris (2d ed., ib. 1885) and R. A. Thompson (ib. 1889). Ten nyson's drama of (Becket' has the martyr for its hero; Ward, (Canterbury Pilgrimages' (London 1904).